Once Upon A Tail
by ChildOfTheGods12
Summary: Antonio just moved to a new school, and he's loving it! But the weird part about this small sea-side town is all the talk of mermaids, and how cruel they are. Stories of them killing humans haunt his nightmares. He was starting to believe the stories till one night, he met not one but three triplet mermen sitting on the shores of the beach. Who will he pick? Romano? Italy? Seboga?
1. A New Place A New Tale

"Ahhh, finally done!" Antonio says, setting down the last box in his dorm room. Looking around the new surroundings, he smiles and throws open the dusty curtains. He looks down at the port and smiles even wider, seeing so many people work on unloading the boats sitting in the docks.

"Mr. Carriedo?" He heard someone say, he turns to see a girl with thick short hair and fresh green eyes that made her porcelain skin shine.

"Si?"

"I've been given orders to show you around the school. My name is Anri Cassandra Malone, but you can call me Anri, and I will be your guide!" She says smiling.

"Bueno. My name is Antonio. Nice to meet you!" Antonio says, smiling.

"This is the stadium where the Sirens play against the Nereids, and where we often lose to them." Anri says, frowning at the thought.

"So, why is everything here based off of Mermaids?" Antonio asks, thinking of the Mermaid Cafe, the Mermaid Shop and everything else dubbed Mermaid.

"You don't know?" Anri says, flabbergasted.

"No, I don't. I just moved here, remember?"

"Oui, I do, but I figured that even you foreigners heard the stories?"

"What stories?" Antonio asks.

"The mermaids here are evil. They kill everything that enters the water." Anri says in a deadly serious tone.

Antonio chuckles, before bursting into laughter, "fusosososososososo! You have to be kidding! Am I being pranked?! That is just to good to be true!"

"But it is true! Didn't you hear about the attack that happened last night?" Anri asks, and Antonio shakes his head.

"No, I didn't. There are real mermaids here?" Antonio asks. "But aren't they kind, caring creatures?"

"No, not these kind. They're not mermaids, and their not sirens. We don't know their specified name, but we just call them Merrens. A combination of Sirens and Mermaids. They kill humans. It started about thirteen years ago, after a horrible storm. No one knows the language they speak, or much about them. All we know about them that if anyone sees them fully out of the water, they have to marry them. That's all we know about them. We don't even know if there are mermen in their society or not." Anri says, taking Antonio's hand and pulls him outside the school.

"Where are we going?" Antonio asks, following the girl.

"I want to show you I'm not crazy, I'll have my brothers take you out to sea."

She pulls him down the the docks and calls to two men, "Abel! Mogens! I have a favour to ask!" She says and Antonio finally pulls his hostage hand from her grasp.

"Mi Amiga, I'm fine. I do not need any proof." Antonio says, and she smiles.

"Nonsense, they might even have one on board!" Anri says, as the two men she called walks up.

"Hey little sis, what do you want?" One says.

"Abel, do you have any Merren? We have a newbie here and he doesn't seem to believe mermaids exist."

"Sure. We have one, it's a beaut." The other one, most likely Mogens said.

Anri pushes Antonio up onto the ship and the two brothers pull out a net with a girl inside.

Antonio reluctantly scans her over, and she was indeed a mermaid. She had a slender blue tail, and a fin similar to a dolphin tail at the back of her tail. She had brown hair and brown eyes, her hair though was in two thick pigtails, carefully beaded down the pigtail. Antonio leaned in close, trying to get a better look at her, when she hisses, opening her mouth showed four sharp vampire like fangs, her eyes turned solid blue and her nails sharpened to a point. He fell back, completely startled by the reaction, and the mermaid began thrashing around in the net.

"Hahaha! Bet you weren't expecting that, huh? Mermaid ares evil."

"Non siamo i cattivi! Tu sei! Hai uccisoli nostro re! Assassini!" The mermaid screamed, and Antonio became confused. He understood some one what she said. She screamed Murderers at them. Why would a mermaid call them a murderer? He also got something similar to 'killed our King' or 'cut the cheese' but he was going to go with the latter.

Antonio stood up and said, "point taken. What language are they speaking? It sounds like espana but it's not."

"Who cares. They're nasty little creatures, they don't care for our kind, we don't care for theirs. There's one rule here and it's if someone sees a mermaid, they need to capture it, and call for authorities, cause then they can dispose of the dirty creature." Mogens says.


	2. Introduction Into the Triplets

"Fratello!" Feliciano called, "where are you?!" He sighs, not getting any response from Luciano. He sees Lovino swim up and Feliciano says, "have you seen Luci?"

Lovino shakes his head and then resumes his search for the third member of their brotherhood.

"What!?" He hears someone scream, and the light haired brunette turns to see his younger brother swim up to him.

"We need to start the meeting." Feliciano say, he feels a presence behind him and sees Lovino swimming back up to them.

"Hey big brother." Luciano says, and Lovino rapidly signs back, "hey stupid."

Feliciano smiles and leads his two brothers towards the shore, but before he did, he poked his head above the waves just to be sure it was night out.

It was, the three kings never let to land during the days in hope to prevent the same fate that befell their father.

Lovino was the eldest brother, and got the Fire Coral Kingdom because of his fiery personality, Luciano was the youngest, and got the Middle Kingdom, White Ice Seaweed because of his cold as ice personality, and Feliciano was the middle brother, and got the left kingdom, called The Sea Forest Kingdom because of his carefree personality.

All the boys so different on personality, but so alike because of their shared looks. All the boys had brown hair, Lovino's darker than his younger brothers, and his eyes were hazel, not brown, but other than that and the obvious tail colour deification, the three boys looked identical. Heart shaped faces, with full lips, wide eyes and a pert, almost female like nose. And, unlike the commoners of the three kingdoms, the three kings shared a wayward curl to the right -with Lovino as a exception, since his goes to the left- of their head.

Lovino was different in other ways to his younger brothers, as they were to him.

Luciano was unnaturally stubborn, and very difficult to talk to, seeing as he would always question whatever was said.

Lovino was silent, but he talked much with his hands, and mush of what he signed was hardly ever nice.

Feliciano was the ray of sunshine in a sea of darkness. He made everyone happy with his naive, childish personality. But under that childish personality lied a serious, dark undertone.

Both Feliciano and Luciano had one thing their brother didn't have. A voice. He had been there when the triplets father, the King, was murdered. He was hooked in the side by some metal curved object that belonged to the human world, and when Lovino believed he could help his father on his own, he didn't send help. The boy's father died quickly, and Lovino gave up his voice, trading it with a local healer for a necklace which has the voice concealed in it, and it is said that Lovino threw the necklace down in to the deepest trench in the ocean, never planning on using the voice again as a memory of what he failed to do.

The boy learned ISL, speaking the native tongue of the three United Kingdoms, commonly collectively called Itala.

"Come on." Feliciano called to his brothers, as they pulled themselves onto the shore.

"Let's get down to business." Lovino signed, listening as his brothers started the meeting.


	3. Uhhhhh Shutting Down

A few weeks past and Antonio was starting to enjoy his stay at the school. He avoided the waters and only casted long full looks at it as he walked back and front from the ship he worked on to the store by the docks, carrying crates. But every night, Antonio woke with a start, his face coated in sweat and his heart racing.

And yet, this night, on the Fall Equinox in the middle of September, He had yet another nightmare, and he's hardly had three hours of rest since he woke up from last one. Seeing that mermaid today really scared him, the screams of her still echo in his ears, giving him both a headache and continuous nightmares. He still didn't understand as to why she was screaming Murderers at them, but, he had a sneaking suspicion it was the reason for their hostage ways. Sighing, he crawled out of bed, and slid on some clothes. He was told going into the ocean at night was safe, because the mermaids were asleep, and missing his daily swimming routine that he meant to take earlier, he slid on a swim top and a pair of swim trunks. Grabbing a flashlight, he made his way out of his dorm room, down the stairs, and out into the schoolyard. Passing the piers, he headed for the sandy beach, and slid off his sandals, setting down his flashlight, sliding off his shirt, and slowly making his way into the sea. He dove into the sea and made his way out, before breaking the Waves and coming up for air.

He shook his hair and dove back under, opening his green eyes only to see a pasty white face staring back at him. He lets go of every ounce of air in his lungs and surfaces the water, before running back to the shore line. When he turns around, he sees a head above water. Squinting at the head, he sees it move and one head becomes two, the two become three, and they start moving towards him. He turns to take off, but when he hears an accented voice scream "Wait!" He stops and looks at the heads.

He sees two move up to the shore and one stays in the ocean, half its head peaking out of the water. "Are you-a okay?" One asks, and the other says, "who cares? Let's just eat him and get over with it."

He backed away, but then he heard something that resembled a clap, looking at the one in the water, he sees one moving, flailing his arms and making strange gestures.

"Fratello is right, Luci. We can't do that, it's against our code." The first one says, and the one dubbed Luci groans.

Antonio squints at the ground, searching for the flashlight he had, and when he finally finds it, he flips the switch and shines it on the three.

He is shocked by what he sees, Three mermen sitting on the shore, wearing decorative jewellery and all and different coloured tails.

The first one had a green tail, with light brown hair and brown eyes, a crazy curl thing sticking out to the right. The one dubbed Luci had a white tail, with normal brown hair and brown eyes, a curl thing he had too, sticking out to the right as well. But the last one, the one that talked in hand signs and clapping, had dark brown hair, like dark chocolate brown with hazel, almost green eyes and the curl thing stuck out to the left, not the right. And his tail was a fiery red, as red as blood.

They all had on layers of necklaces, and each one had a cuff on their upper arm. Green one had green gems on it in the shape of a wave, the white one had a snow flake on his arm made of white gems, and the red one, a fire coral decorated his band in red and orange gems.

"M-Mermen?" Antonio says, and the green one smiles wide.

"Si! My name is King Feliciano! This one," motioning towards the white one, "is King Luciano, and that one is King Lovino. And you are..?"

Antonio felt his head clear, all commands shutting off. And he collapsed to the ground, passed out.


	4. Chatting Up A Storm

"My friend! Come through please!" He heard one say, and then another voice says, "why don't we just EAT him? I'm starving."

'So I'm going to die by being eaten by mermen, ha, funny way to die." Antonio though, opening one eye.

"Vee~! He's awake!" The one named Feliciano says smiling.

"Dammit. There goes the nice dead meal I wanted." Luciano says.

"..." The red one didn't say anything, but he hit Luciano in the arm.

Antonio sat up and scooted away from the creatures. "Y-You aren't g-going to eat me, no?"

"No! It's against the law for Kings to feast upon human flesh, since it's considered impure." Feliciano says, smiling.

"B-But he said..." Antonio says, pointing at Luciano.

"Oh, Luci? He's kidding. He knows the law better than anyone, but really, the only one of us who can eat human is Lovino. But he wouldn't unless forced to." Feliciano says, pointing to the glaring dark chocolate haired boy.

"W-Why can he?" Antonio asks, and Feliciano smiles even wider.

"Well, in our kingdom, if someone is a witness to the murder, and remembers the murderer, he or she can attack the murderer and no charges will be given, even if the murderer is killed in the attack. So unless you're the one who killed Nonno," he looks to Lovino, who rolls his eyes and sticks his nose up in the air before sassily turning away from the three. "Nope, you're good."

"That's not really fair. What about the murderers family? What about them? That means the person who kills the murderer is just as bad." Antonio says, sitting up a bit straighter, gaining confidence.

"Veeeee~! I like-a that idea! What do you think, Luci and Lovi?"

"The murderer is at fault, so why pity his family when their the ones who bore a murderer." Luciano says, and Lovino rapidly sighs.

"I agree with Lovi, let's leave it to the council to decide." Feliciano says.

"Why doesn't he talk?" Antonio asking, pointing to Lovino.

"Big brother can't talk, he doesn't have a voice." Luciano says, sounding a slight bit sad.

"Why doesn't he have a voice?" Antonio asks.

"He got rid of it." Feliciano says sadly, and when he hears Lovino clap, Felicianp says, "I know I know, Lovi. Anything else you want to know about Lovino, you will have to ask him yourself. That is if you know ISL."

"ISL? What's that?" Antonio asks.

"Itala Sign Language." Luciano says.

"So wait, you guys speak Itala? What's that?" Antonio asks.

"The name of our nation. You see, long ago, Itala was above water, and all its citizens spoke a mixture of French, Spanish and Latin. But after a huge earthquake hit, it broke off and sank into the sea."

"Wow... So .. That was your nation?" Antonio asked, surprised to meet three people from the Fallen Land.

He hadn't experienced the almost end of the world, but his great great grandfather did.

It happened nearly one hundred years ago, year 2065. The moon was launched out of orbit after colliding with a meteor, and it caused the water to rise higher than ever before. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes hit any and all countries, volcanoes erupted more causing new islands to form as the old ones were swallowed by water. Everyone thought the world was ending until Earths pull on the 'dislocated' moon was pulled back into orbit, and Earth was at peace again. Until seven earthquakes hit seven places all around the world at one time, causing Italy and Seborga, Vietnam, Singapore, Mexico, Madagascar and Greenland to break apart and be swallowed by the sea.

The San Andreas fault also gave because of an earthquake, and it caused the state to break off and fall to the sea as well.

Antonio moved from his dying home, Spain to America so he could get better schooling. He didn't know that this sea-side city was haunted by evil mermaids.

"Si, once the nation fell under the waves, our great great grandfather showed his son, our great grandfather that we were the true descendants of Atargatis." Feliciano says.

"Atargatis? Who is that?" Antonio asks.

"She is the oldest of merpeople. She is often known as the sea mother and she is considered the mother of all merpeople. Though I don't know why." Luciano says.

Antonio nods as his eyes scan over the triplets identical tails -minus the colours-. They had a different tail than what the first mermaid he saw have. Besides the tail colours, the females only had one fin, not eight. They had the back dorsal fin just below their rumb, but along with that, they had two sets of twin pelvic fins. One set -meaning two- was just at their hips, and the other was where their knees would bend if they were human. They also had two smaller anal fins on either side of their legs just before the tail fin. The tail fin was the biggest part of the entire tail, but it was also the most elegant part. It was like a curtain that got longer of the edges and shorter in the middle.

"Antonio?" He heard Feliciano say.

"Si...? Oh! Sorry! I can't help but to stare. Oh, and call me Toni." He say smiling.

"Si! Call me Feli! Luciano prefers Luci, and Lovino sometimes goes by our papas name, Romano. But we just call him Lovi." The cheerful boy says smiling.

"So, just call you guys Feli, Luci and Lovi?" Antonio asks.

Lovino hissed at him, and Feliciano says something to him in their native language. He looks back at Antonio as Lovino rapidly signs and Luciano laughs.

"Lovi says that no two legged idiotic bastardo is allowed to call him Lovi." Luciano says laughing.

Antonio furrows his brows and says, "that's rude."

"Oh don't take it personally. Kiku Honda, our records keeper, calls Lovino a tsundere. He's all bark and hardly ever bites. Luciano says.

"Why? Does he dislike humans?" Antonio asks.

"He doesn't trust them, no. But as King, it's his duty to treat them kindly when visiting." Feliciano says as Luciano listens to Lovino's soundless rant.

"So he's not fond of humans?"

"No, he's not." Feliciano says, his green tail fin lightly flicking up some sand.

"Hey," Antonio starts, "does it feel weird?" He asks, pointing to his tail.

"No. You can touch it if you want." Feliciano says, pointing to his fin.

He was hesitant, but Antonio nods and moves to touch Feliciano's tail fin. But just as his hand got close enough, another pale, scarred arm stretched over Feliciano's tail. Antonio's green eyes moved up and locked on Lovino's glaring hazel eyes. Antonio moved back, getting the message, saying that if he touched Feliciano, Lovino wouldn't hesitate to put a hole in his hand.

Shining the flash light on Lovino's red tail he saw a spiral scar trailing down the red merman a tail. Looking at the others, he saw similar scars on Feliciano's side and shoulder, and a small but noticeable hole in Luciano's tail. "What happened?" He asked, pointing it out.

"Feliciano was trapped in a net and we tried to help him. I got caught by the same thing that got Nonno, Lovino got caught in an unbreakable string that wrapped itself around his tail and cut it all up, and Feli had the net so tightly wrapped around his torso it caused him to cut his side open." Luciano said.

Antonio furrowed his brow, "you got caught by a fishing line and hook?" He asks, examining the old injury.

"There are humans who know more that other, many have started fishing in our kingdoms waters and have caught many of our citizens. We are trying to decide what to do." Feliciano says.

"Wait? Boats have came into your waters?"

"Yea," Luciano says, looking up, and he finishes, "we must leave. The sun will be up soon, and we can't be seen. Can we see you again, sometime?"

"Sure. I enjoy talking to... Most of you," Antonio says, glancing at the sneering Lovino.

"Hmmm. How about tomorrow night?" Luciano says.

"Si! Sounds good!" Antonio says, smiling. He stood up and waved goodbye as he headed back to his room. Then Mogens voice comes to mind, "any and all humans found helping or communicating with mermaids will be tried for treason."

Antonio stopped, then turned to see the red tail of Lovino be the last to dive under the water. Antonio swallowed, beginning to wonder if talking to mermen was worth the punishment. He sighs and continues on making his way back to his dorm.

By twelve that day, he and Anri had discussed everything but the mermaid she said her brother caught today.

"So Anri... The entire 'marry a mermaid whose been fully seen' law. Does that mean the same for mermen?" Antonio asks.

"Mermen don't exist. There is mermaids and only mermaids. It's for all mermaids, not just those here." Anri says.

"They all have that law?" Antonio asks.

"Yes, but who'd want to marry them? They're all evil, all of them." Anri says, frowning.

"I don't think so." Antonio says and she whips around, blocking Antonio's path.

"Really? What about the soul cage? Or the Brigdi? Blue Men? Leviathan? Kraken? Hmm? Who controls them?" Anri says, shoving her finger in his chest.

He raises his hands in defence as he watches her scoff, before turning and storming away.


	5. Stupido

Lovino watched as his brothers pulled themselves up shore, and he rolls his eyes. "Do we have to meet the stupido?" He signs and Feliciano nods.

"Yes we do, big brother." He replies in Italian.

Lovino crosses his eyes and scoffs, he doesn't think the three kings should trust the idiot. Besides, he's seen their tails, meaning that he has to pick one of the kings to marry. Like Lovino would ever let that idiot marry his little brothers.

"Caio Toni!" He hears his brother say to the human as he walks up.

"Hola Feli, Luci, Lovi."

Lovino turned and snarled at the smiling idiot, who flinched and reverted to sitting next to Feliciano, as if his brother would stop Lovino from launching himself at the idiot.

"So... Um... I have some questions for you." Antonio asks, and Lovino saw the curly haired idiot glance at him, then go back to ogling his brothers.

"So soon? Okay, shoot." Luciano says, laying back on his hands.

"What is a leviathan?"

Luciano gasped, as Lovino fell backwards and Feliciano covered his mouth. "Shhhhh, never, never mention that name." Feliciano says, removing his hands from Antonio's mouth.

Lovino sits back up, pulling his tail fin over to his side as he wipes the sand off his back, careful not to touch his dorsal fin.

"What is it?" Antonio asks.

"The creature is like a snake, but twice the size of three blue whales and humpback whales combined. It has two rows of sharp teeth, both upper and lower, and it uses those teeth to destroy anything. Ships, cities, kingdoms, castles, anything. No one can control it, not even us. We slated the mate of the creature and it went dormant until the earthquakes, it woke and we have no clue where it is, but when it woke, our great great grandfather casted a spell over the kingdom that protects both this city and our own from the creature." Feliciano says.

"That was nice. Thank you," Antonio says, slightly dipping his head in respect. The three boys, including Lovino bowed back. Part of their training was that of anyone ever bowed to them, they had to bow back.

What about a Brigdi?"

"He's not as deadly as The Beast, but he is treacherous to humans. The fins of the creature resemble that of a mast and sail of a vessel. It'll slowly approach ships only to crush the ships and pull it under the sea." Luciano says, as he pulls out the silver vial of liquid Amber, "only a drop of Amber will rid the beast."

"Can you control that one? Or the blue men? O-or the Kraken?" Antonio asks.

"No," Lovino signs, using Feliciano as his translator, "we can't control any of them. They will kill anything, even us."

"What are they?" Antonio asks, leaning forward. Lovino rolls his eyes as he sees Antonio's eyes grow wide in interest.

"Blue Men, or Storm Kelpies are evil mermen with the power to summon storms. They normally summon storms to sink ships that pass over their sea home. They will only leave the ship alone if the captain of the crew is quick witted and has a silver tongue. A Kraken on the other hand is a large thousand armed squid that does the same as all the others do. Destroy the ship and devour the crew." Feliciano says.

"Are there any good creatures?" Antonio asks, throwing up his arms in exasperation.

"Sure. There's the blue whales, the water Bulls, the sea cows, and the Hippocampus. And those aren't the only good things out there either. There's the Ningyo, the Samebito, the Miengo, the Enchantado, the Apsaras, and the Selkie. The Ningyo and Samebito are in Japanese waters, both will reward those who either capture them or treat them kindly. Samebito cries gem stones for those who are kind to it, and the other, of capture, grants the human immortality. The Miengo is an African water spirit that can cure diseases. The Enchantado is a man that turns into a freshwater dolphin during the day and a man at night. He's a well sought after dance partner. The Apsaras and the Selkie are no treat to humans, but they have no magical purposes." Luciano says.

"Wow... So... I have one more question." Antonio says.

"Go for it, stupid." Lovino signs, as Luciano translates.

"First off, it's Antonio, not stupid. Second off, that's mean. And third, why does no one know about you guys?"

"We all try to keep away from humans, but there are those, such as yourself, who show us kindness and curiosity for our kind. We want nothing more to be able to travel to and from land again, like we used to. We wish that we could be friends with humans again, not try and rip out their throats. We all have a saying, "By water bell and wave spell, By crumbled wall and fathom fall, By storm night and star sight, By tear salt and green light, May merpeople and land people, Eternal kin to be, two siblings born from the same mother sea."" Luciano said.

Antonio stood up, and smiles, "I was nice talking to you, but I got to go. I'll see you soon, okay?" They all nod, and watch as the human leaves.

They look at each other and knew what they had to do. The human saw them all. And going by the law, he had to marry one of them.

Lovino huffed and crossed his arms, as if he'd ever let himself or his brothers marry that human. Once he saw his brothers green and white tail fade under the waves, he sighed and looked to the sky, the one star he called his Nonno twinkled, as if saying, "you can do it, mio figlio." He smiles, and waves to the star, before diving under the waves.


	6. Who Ya Gonna Choose?

That morning, Antonio woke up to a faceful of blonde hair hanging in his face and green eyes staring at him. "Wake up Antonio!" The girl screams, and Antonio pushes her away.

"I'm up, okay." Antonio says, getting out of bed.

"What is that?" He hears Anri say.

He turns and sees her pick up a fish scale, white as snow. He swallows nervously when she looks at him. "Why do you have a white mermaid tail scale in your bed?"

"I went swimming last night." He lied, swallowing. She smiles and throws it away.

"Okay. Just be careful, they say if you get to attached to a mermaid, that she can change you into a mermaid yourself." He nods and turns, going to get dressed.

"Oh, hey, guess what? We have some more new students joining us. Four of them!" Anri says as Antonio slides on a pair of loose jeans.

* * *

'Ugh, why red?' Lovino thought, pulling at his shirt.

"Because, my Lord, it means love!" His Royal adviser, Roderich says.

Lovino rolls his eyes and looks at his brothers. Luciano, the youngest triplet was sliding on a white tee shirt with blue snow flakes on it. Feliciano had on a green shirt with a fat fuzzy thing eating pasta.

He had to bring Roderich along because with Feliciano and Luciano only have one class with him, and no one spoke ISL.

The bell rang and they exit the bathroom, before heading to their one class together.

* * *

"Class," Antonio's theatre teacher said, gaining Antonio's attention, "we have four new students. Three are triplets, one is their cousin. Ooh La La. Give a warm welcome to Luciano, Lovino, Feliciano and Roderich."

Antonio snapped his neck up ands as the three mermen standing on human legs. He was shocked. When he left last night, he was hoping he wouldn't see them again, so he could avoid being in trouble.

The three boys plus their cousin were talking with the teacher, Mrs. Dunaway. Antonio was close enough to hear the conversation but fair enough to not be immediately noticed.

"What are your main talents?" She asked Feliciano.

"Well, Bella, I can sing, paint and act." Feliciano says, "I one time acted as a tomato box fairy!" Feliciano says, and Antonio saw both Luciano and Lovino roll their eyes.

"Alrighty then." She moves to Luciano. "What about you?"

"I can debate, act as an attorney, a judge, a police officer or anything involving a trillion question." He says, crossing his arms.

"That cool." She says smiling, before moving to Roderich. "How about you?"

"I can play the piano and I can act."

"Ooh, splendid!" She says, clapping her hands together. Then she gets to Lovino. "And you?"

The boy uncrossed his arms and rapidly signed, almost too fast for Antonio to see, as Roderich translated all he said. "He is a mute, but he can play the piano, and guitar, he knows how to dance and build set pieces and how to mime."

"Oh my. What fine arts school are you from?" She asked, and Lovino continues to sign.

"He went to an art university in Spain for three years with his father, who wanted to learn how to act and sing. Lovino watched as he performed and practiced on his own."

Antonio sat up, he didn't know Lovino went to Spain.

"Is there a reason you're mute?" The teacher asks, and Lovino freezes, his hands dropping.

Roderich leans in and whispers something to her as the three mermen take their seats. The two youngest sat up front, while Lovino made his way to the back, soon to be joined with by Roderich. As Antonio got up to talk to the two up front, girls surrounded Feliciano and Luciano.

"Vee, hello Bella's." Feliciano says, smiling.

Luciano just winks at then, and half of the girl swoon. Antonio looks up and sees Lovino signing, Roderich smiles and signs back. He sees a resemblance to a smile cross Lovino's face and the brunette looks as if he's laughing, but not a single sound came out.

Getting up, he goes to greet Lovino, but once the brunette sees him, he scowls and holds a glare on Antonio's head, as if his eyes were a gun and he's shooting bullets in his head.

"My lord, why the sour face?" He hears Roderich whisper.

"Wait, so you're not actually their cousin are you?" Antonio asks, sitting in the row in front of them. He made sure to whisper, voice travels in the auditorium.

"Now why would you think that?" Rodeqrich asks, before Lovino signs something. "Oh, so this is the human?" Lovino nods, and Roderich's eyes scan him over. "Humph, he doesn't appear to be right for the throne at all, does he?"

"Hey!" Antonio says, staring at Roderich.

"You do know that if you marry one of the Kings, you will be considered a second King to the throne. Queens aren't able to make delegations, but kings are. Second kings or not."

"What?" Antonio says.

"Oh, he doesn't know. Feli! Luci!" Roderich calls to the others, and they nod, heading up to join them.

"Hi Toni!" Feliciano says cheerfully.

"What's this about?" Antonio asks.

"So, you know how you saw all of us, well, you have to kiss one of us in three weeks or else you turn into a fish forever and no hope of changing back. Sorry." Luciano says.

Antonio furrows his brows in confusion, staring at the triplets. "So, I have three weeks to kiss one of you, then what?"

" 'Let me explain' his highness says." Roderich translates, before Lovino raises a hand and he stops, before he continues signing, and Roderich continues to translate.

"Lovino says that according to law and tradition, any human who sees a mermaid or merman's full self has exactly three weeks to fall for the mermaid slash man and kiss them before the finish of the lunar cycle or the human will turn into a fish. After he or she kisses the mermaid slash man, he or she will become attached to the other and will feel emotions, have similar abilities, yadda yadda yadda. You get the gist of it." Roderich says, as Lovino sighs and drapes his head over the seat.

"So... Do I have to kiss one of you now?" Antonio asks, mentally wishing he never met the three mermen. He toys with the catholic necklace around his neck. Antonio wasn't gay, or even bi. He didn't even think of guys like that, but yet, he's gotten himself in a situation where he has to kiss a guy or turn into a fish.

"No, you have to three weeks, and if by.." Luciano looks at his wrist watch, "the 30th of October you have not kissed one of us, there by theoretically choosing one of us, you will turn into a fish. You can choose only one, and just know, that once you choose, you can't switch unless that one has already kissed someone else." Luciano says, placing a stray hair -that isn't the awkward standing curl thing- behind his ear.

"Um... Okay. Also, what is that?" Antonio asks, reaching from Luciano's curl. He hears Lovino hiss at him, and he pulls back. "Sorry, but I'm curious. What does it do? Even Roderich has one." He says, pointing to the curl on top of Roderich's head.

"Don't worry about it now, boy. Let's just worry about getting you settled." Roderich says


	7. Jerk

Antonio signed in relief when the bell rang, he grabbed his bag and exit the room as quick as he could. He had to think over all what he just learned.

He turned to see Lovino wave off his siblings, and even Roderich before the look of boredom and... Was that sadness? Antonio didn't know, but the boy turned and went the opposite direction of Antonio. Deciding to try and get the red tailed merman to like him, Antonio turned and went to catch up with Lovino.

"Lovino, wait up!" Antonio calls to the boy, and he stopped, turned halfway to look at Antonio and he waited.

Antonio caught up with him and the brunette went to scowling at him, "do you not like me, Lovi?" Antonio asks, trying his best not to let the scowl get to him. As Feliciano said, not to take Lovino's bad attitude personally.

For the first time, he saw the brunette open his mouth as if he had something to say, his neck moved as if he tried to say something, and remembrance crossed his face, before he closed his mouth, pulled out a small notepad and scribbled down a response. He handed the notepad to Antonio, much to his surprise saw that Lovino had beautiful penmanship. The comment read, "what do you think, stupid?"

Antonio handed the notepad back to Lovino, and says, "I think you do. What did I do to tick you off?" Antonio asks, and Lovino gives him this look that read, 'you're kidding, right?'

"So, you do hate me?" Antonio asks, feeling a little upset. No one has ever hated him. He was the most loved guy he knew at his old school.

Lovino crosses his hazel eyes and set his palm against his forehead. He pulls the notepad from under his arm and scribbles down a response, which Antonio read after Lovino hands it to him. 'Of course I hate you. I hate you so~ much, I hate you as much as I hate tomatoes. Of course I don't hate you, dumbass. I don't like you, but I don't hate you.'

"Oh..." Antonio says, before smiling, "well at least you don't hate me!" He wraps an arm around Lovino's shoulders and the brunette freezes. The brunette rapidly signs, and various chirps and clicks came from him. Antonio pulls his arm off and Lovino calms down. "I'm guessing your not used to contact, huh?" He asks, and Lovino glares at him, before leaving him in the hall.

He found out he had Feliciano in his class on he got to it. "Toni!" The brunette calls to him, and Antonio smiles at him, taking his seat next to him.

"Hey Feli, how are you?"

"I'm good, vee~." Feliciano says, smiling.

"Vee?" Antonio asks.

"Oh... Sorry... It's a vocal tick. Anyway, how are you!" Feliciano says, closing his brown eyes, and Antonio found himself missing those brown doe eyes. If he had to pick, he was probably going to wind up picking Feliciano, or Luciano. He notices the brunette has a cat eating pasta on his shirt, "Pusheen! That's so cute!" Antonio says, pointing at his shirt.

"Hmmm? Oh, you think so? I love cats! Lovi and Luci don't. I don't even think Lovi knows what a cat is, but my friend Hercules has a bunch of cats on land so we get along pretty well." Feliciano says.

Antonio nods, and smiles, "do you have many friends?"

Feliciano nods, "all of my citizens love me! Luciano is the same, but... Lovino, he doesn't have many friends. He says he doesn't need friends but he has three that I know of."

Antonio furrows his brows, but he pushes back the concern for the hothead and continues to listen to Feliciano.


	8. The Secret Behind Lovino's Eyes

Lovino sat his head in his hand as he listened to the sound of his music playing, he would've sang along with he had a voice, but since he didn't, he played the cello in his mind. The thought of his father playing the guitar crossed his mind, and he wanted to cry. The memory of his brothers screaming at him after he told his brothers that Nonno was dead came back and the urge deepened. His stomach lurched and he felt as if he was going to throw up what ever little food he has eaten in the past twenty four hours.

His personal therapist, Elizabeta diagnosed him with depression and anxiety a few years ago, after his father died and many of his subjects questioned why he wasn't as kind or friendly as his brothers or father. That one reason why Lovino avoids social outings or family trips with his brothers. To him, he didn't deserve to have such kindness, not after what he did. No. He'd never allow his bad fortune befall his brothers, seeing as how everything goes wrong when he's around. Or so what Feliciano and Luciano said.

"Hey!" He hears someone say over the music, and he looks up, seeing a set of red eyes staring at him, "you, you're my partner for today. Come on!" The red eyed guy says loudly, grabbing Lovino's arm and pulling him out of the class.

Wishing he could cry out for help, he repeatedly slapped the red eyed mans hand, trying to get him to let go.

"What? Cat got your tongue? I'm Gilbert, and you are...?" Gilbert says after Lovino pulled out his headsets.

Pulling free from Gilbert, he pulls out his notebook and wrote "I'm a mute, my name is Lovino, and I work alone." He shows it to Gilbert, who smiles.

"Look, I've been watching you all class period, you haven't said a word, which is explainable by the mute thing, but the look of sadness and grief is hard to hide. Do you need to talk or something?" Gilbert asks, sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall.

Lovino sighs, and sits next to him. He started to write but Gilbert handed him his TouchPad. It's similar to an iPad but it turns opaque when off, and see through when on. It matches moods to emotions. It's called Empathy. The Empathy turns a dark blue, and Gilbert watches as Lovino types, "it's complicated, but things are difficult for me. I mean, I'm looked up to by everyone, even my brothers, but... I dunno. Do I deserve it? I mean, I still remember the scream my brother gave me when I told him Father was dead..."

It wasn't like himself to open up to the human, but he'd be gone in three weeks and back in the solitude of his castle, never to see this human again, so what can happen if he opens up to him.

"You sound like me, which isn't awesome at all. Let me guess... Depression?" Gilbert asks, and Lovino slowly nods. "That sucks. How many brothers do you have?"

He raised up his hand, the number two.

"Two. Cool. I have a brother, he goes here too."

He types on the Empathy, "me and my brothers are triplets."

"Bro, that's awesome!" Gilbert says, trying to cheer up the brunette. The mute one reminded him of himself, back when he had depression. "Favourite food?" He asks.

Lovino typed "pasta or tomatoes. Ice cream when I'm upset."

"Hmmm, let's get some ice cream then!" Gilbert says, pulling Lovino up off the ground, and leads the boy towards the ice cream dispenser.

Lovino slightly smiles, before the thought of his brothers screams crossed his mind, and he frowns again. 'This is going to be a long three weeks,' thought Lovino. 'I already know who he's going to pick, and I already know it's not me.'


	9. A Merman Again

'Stupid Roderich, I would fire him but he's the closet thing to my friend. That damn human is trying to get to me but I know he's going to pick someone else over me. Stupid human.' Lovino thought, feeling up to having one of his world class temper tantrums.

"Oh, you must be the new student." He heard someone say, he turned around and saw two men behind him, both of them had their arms crossed. One was smirking, one was not.

Lovino furrowed his brows and one smirked. "This one is the mute. He can't talk, but you're asking who are we. My name is Mogens, and his name is Abel. It's strange how the weather changes, and then you four appear, and the mermaids... Disappear." Mogens says, circling Lovino like a shark.

Lovino glares at Mogens, and Abel says, "come on, I know you can sign in almost thirteen different languages."

Lovino swallows a growl and he signs in English, "what are you getting at?"

"Oh, well. We just think how strange it is that four boys suddenly appear out of nowhere, one can speak several languages with his hands and is smarter than an average twenty year old, one can talk to animals and the other... Has an extreme green thumb." Mogens says, and Abel pushes Lovino back.

"Hmm? What do you have to say for yourself, merman? Oh, wait, you. Can't. Speak." Abel says, pushing Lovino again, who bites his lip to prevent from reacting. He could set to two on fire if he wanted, but not to prove them right or to bring around attention. "Oh. Oh my. I didn't see it before. He's royalty. From which kingdom does thy travel?" Abel says.

"Obviously the Left Kingdom. See his crown? The curl?" Mogens says, poking the hair. Lovino's left eye twitched and he signed 'are you mad? I'm not a merman. Those don't even exist.'

"Deniiiiiiiiii-alllllllll." Abel said in a singsong voice.

"We'll be keeping an eye on you and your brothers, Lovino Deanthony Romano Franceso Lave Vargas." Mogens says, as they turn and leave Lovino, both starting to chuckle and by the time they left Lovino's eyesight, they were laughing.

He growls and goes to the water fountain in the hall, he pushes the button, and the spout squirts water directly at his top, getting his jeans, shirt and shoes wet. His eyes widen and he hightailed it to his dorm. He had just gotten in the dorm before he sighs and falls to the floor, pushing the door closed with his weight.

"Lovino?" He hears Antonio say, before he saw the boy walk up and freeze. "Y-You're a merman again..." He says softly.

He rolls his eyes and signs, before Antonio calls to Roderich. "Hey, Roderich, translation!"

Roderich comes to his location and he freezes, before running over to Lovino. "What happened my King?"

'Some stupido guys came to talk to me, they seem to know about my brothers and I's identity and after they left I went to get some water and the stupid sprout soaked my clothes.' Lovino signed.

"You got your feet wet.." Roderich says, fixing Lovino's hair.

Antonio moves closer to the two and crouches down next to Lovino. "What happens when he gets his feet wet?" Antonio set a hand on Lovino's tail, who flinched and softly, halfheartedly hissed at him.

"The Kings can transform into human on their own, but if their feet get wet, they revert back over to their merman form." Roderich says, flicking Antonio's hand off Lovino's tail.

Antonio softly smiles, his eyes trailing down Lovino's tail, which stretched to at least five feet. Lovino's body was another four, placing the merman, when in his merman form, at at least nine feet tall. "What a pretty colour, Lovino. Doesn't the colour of the tail state the colour of your power?"

Lovino nods, as he struggles to pull himself up. "What is your power?" Antonio asks.

"Fire. King Lovino can control fire. He is the king of the Fire Coral Kingdom." Roderich says, getting up and going to Lovino's room returning with a shirt. "This is going to take a while. No power or towel can dry him off." Roderich says, grabbing Lovino's arms. "Get his tail, please."

Antonio nods and gets up, grabbing Lovino's fin. He pulled and he saw Lovino wince, before hissing at him. "No no no, Antonio. Grab his ankles, the fins are very sensitive." Roderich says, and Antonio nods, getting Lovino's ankles. The two carry Lovino to living room, and setting him on the couch.

Antonio sat down next to Lovino, curious of the merman. "Lovino, mind if I...?" He was cut short by a glare from the merman, he saw the dorsal fin on the back of Lovino's tail flip over to the side and Roderich says, "go ahead. He won't attack, just know that if the fin on his back is standing up, not to touch him."

Antonio slightly nods and sets his hand on the small part of his tail, where his knees where at. Lovino flinched but he didn't hiss or growl or react. Antonio felt disgusted by the nasty slimy feeling of the fishy tail, but he didn't show the emotion. He got closer to the tail fin and he heard Lovino whimper softly. "You okay, Lovino?"

No reponse, from Roderich or Lovino. But he got to Lovino's fin and Roderich pushed him away. "Unless you're choosing My King, I recommend you to stop there." He warned.

"Why?" Antonio asks.

"Like his curl, and dorsal fin, his tail fin is very sensitive." Roderich says.

"Toni!" He hears Feliciano say, and Lovino looks up. He gives a weary smile as the boys freeze. "Has Toni pick Lovi?"

Lovino shakes his head and signs, "no, I got wet on accident and I'm still needing to dry."

"Oh, poor Fratello." Luciano says, sitting on the ground next to Lovino.

"I shall make food for us, vee?" Feliciano says, and Lovino signs something.

Roderich translates, "his highness asks do you have the vocal tick again?"

"Si, I do." Feliciano replies sadly, only to have Luciano chuckle.

"It'll go away soon, Fratello."

"Vee, I know." Feliciano says, as Lovino's tail fin slightly flicks.


	10. A Date, then A Tour

Antonio watched as Lovino watched the tv, he could see the brunette flail when the guy walks away from the girl he shot. He also happen to be the girls father. Antonio sat up in his bed and looks at his clock, the time was almost six that next morning.

He got up and went over to Lovino, " you know what time it is?"

Lovino's eyes were trained on the tv, and he gave no response. Antonio sighs and blows in Lovino's ear, who flipped and fell over onto the couch and then wound up falling to the floor. He glares at Antonio and mouths "I know what time it is, dumbass."

Antonio stood up straight and crossed him arms, "really? You didn't respond so I suspected you didn't."

Lovino rolls his eyes and gets back up onto the couch. Antonio's tired eyes catch something on Lovino's wrist and he grabs the brunettes wrist, pulling it closer for him to see. A dozen few bandages on his wrist, and Antonio knew what it was. The boy hisses at Antonio, pulling his wrist back.

"What happened?" Antonio asks, trying to see if Lovino would admit to it.

'A burn. I was cooking myself food last night and I set the pan on fire by accident.' Lovino mouthed, accidentally signing along with it.

"Oh? Can I see?" Antonio asks, sitting next to Lovino. He looked at his bandages, then glanced at Antonio. He shook his head and resumed watching the tv.

"Lovino." Antonio says, and the brunette glanced at him.

'What?' He mouthed, and Antonio says, "do you cut?"

The merman lurched back and gave him a classic 'what the fuck' look. "No, I don't fucking cut, Antonio." He mouths, glaring at him.

"You sure?" He asks, and Lovino crosses his eyes, inhales and sighs all in one move, before removing his bandage. The skin was bright pink, but no cuts, Antonio relaxed and smiles. "I guess any self respecting King would know better to cut, hmm?"

He saw it for a second, no, a millisecond. The pain, doubt, insecurity, all of it flipping through his eyes like a book, before the walls went back up. Antonio felt kinda bad then, he wondered why the Fire King would feel so low about himself. The sound of the door opens, and Feliciano's voice rang through the dorm, and the feelings and thoughts Antonio held disappeared, like smoke.

"Hey Feli. How did you sleep?" Antonio asks, getting up and going over to the two other triplets.

"Pretty good, vee~! Want to walk to class together? After you get dressed that is?" Feliciano asks, not including his older brother.

"Si, why not." Antonio says, going to his room to get dressed.

Lovino sat at the edge of the ocean, he didn't bother to go to school today. He knew he broke, wether or not Antonio noticed he didn't know. Self respecting. Hah. The last time Lovino believed anything he did for his kingdom whole heartedly was before his father died, and he wasn't even a King then.

His fathers death was the black stain on another wise red heart. Then his brothers always had a secret hatred towards him. Then everyone called him the Accident-Murderer. Then everyone said 'why can't you be more like your brothers' and all that jazz. He stood up, slid off his shoes, stepped into the water and dove under neath. Within seconds, his tail reappeared, and he swam past the shallow shores. Once he got past the broken mast of a ship, he stopped swimming so fast and slowed, crossing his arms over his chest as he slowly made his way past the ship graveyard. He got to his least favourite point in the graveyard, a silver slab set on the ground, and a billion sea plants surrounded it, but never grew on it. He went down to the slab and sat next to it, he slightly smiles and says, "hey Nonno. I've missed you."

"Why don't we go out for lunch?" Antonio asks Feliciano, smiling.

"Si! That sounds fun! Where would we go?" Feliciano asks, and Antonio smiles.

"There's a pretty good restaurant here. Come on, I'll show you." Antonio says, leading Feliciano out of the school.

They walked in silence as Antonio tried to decide what to do. 'Would this be considered a date?' Antonio thought?

'Is he picking me?' Feliciano says, shyly smiling.

"Here it is!" Antonio says, pointing to a fancy Italian restaurant. "It's Italian. One of the few restaurants still working today."

Feliciano smiled larger than ever before and hugged Antonio's neck. "Grazie, Toni!" He says, pulling back and pulling Antonio inside.

"Hallo, I am Ludwig. I will be your waiter." Said a tall German boy, with combed back blonde hair and crystal blue eyes.

"Ciao!" Feliciano says, and Antonio laughs, finding his attitude adorable.

"What would you like to eat?" Ludwig the Waiter asks.

"Pasta, vee~!"

"The same, with tomatoes, please." Antonio says.

"Drinks?" Ludwig asks.

"Gelato, please!" Feliciano asks, smiling. Antonio looks at Feliciano.

"Are you old enough to drink?"

"Si, I'm twenty three." Feliciano says, smiling. Antonio was shocked, he would've bet on Feliciano being nineteen. Antonio had just turned twenty two about four weeks ago.

"Alright, and you?" Ludwig asks.

"Hmmmm, Coke please." Antonio says.

"Alright." He says, leaving.

Antonio looks at Feliciano and smiles, Feliciano smiles back. "So Toni, where did you live before here?" He asks.

"Spain. My mother passed away a while ago and left the inheritance to me. I got all the money then I decided to get a better education in America."

"My father taught all of us.. Until we turned fifteen, when he died. But that was a long time ago." Feliciano says, sighing softly.

"How did he die?" Antonio asks.

"He was snagged in the side by the same thing that hooked Luciano's tail. Lovino was with him, they were returning from their trip from Spain when he was caught by a hook of sorts. He died shortly after Lovino removed the hook, it ruined Lovino. He was never the same after that, he yelled at us, called us mean things, and then one day he just stopped talking all together, we both swore he hated us. But when Roderich came, we realised what happened. He sold his voice. We have the magic to remove voices, but it's considered illegal to do so. He never sang again, he never spoke, and we wondered what he did with the vessel in which he concealed his voice. He wouldn't tell us, but when we asked Roderich, he said that Lovino threw it into the Abryus Trench, the deepest darkest trench in our kingdom. It was horrible."

"He had no right to call you mean things or yell at you." Antonio says, trying to console Feliciano.

"Actually he did. Me and Luciano acted horribly when he told us Father had passed. Luciano shunned him for months, and I... I disowned him. I've regretted it ever since." Feliciano says, sadly.

"Still, he didn't call for help." Antonio tries.

"No message would've gotten to us in time. He did what he could, but still. Anyway, what's it like in Spain?" Feliciano says, changing the subject.

"Dry. Spain is going through a horrible drought, my garden was destroyed, I wasn't able to make money so I sold my land and moved here. But Spain will always be home to me, it's was gorgeous. The summer sunset was the best in the world. Absolutely beautiful." Antonio says, remembering the sunset like he just saw it.

Feliciano smiles, "you'd like the view from Itala then. We have this one pretty spot, it's a cave that's walls haven't thickened yet, and when entered, the sun can be seen from the outside. It's like a one way mirror. I'll have to show it to you sometime. "

Antonio smiles and sets his head in his hand. "I'd like that.

"Your food, sir." Ludwig the waiter says, placing down the food and drinks. Antonio smiles and nods in thanks to him. He nods back and leaves, without another word.

Feliciano didn't wait, he just began chewing down on the pasta, slurping it up as if it's a nice cup of iced Starbucks brand coffee.

Antonio laughs softly, watching the brunette. He begins working on his own food, when he hears a loud voice cry, "Lovino!"

He turns to see a tall silver haired red eyed man walk up to them.

"Actually, this ones Feliciano." Antonio says, correcting the man.

He leans in and stares at Feliciano, before standing back up, "you sure? Is this one of his brothers then?"

"Si. Lovi is my Fratello!" Feliciano says, smiling.

"Oh, well have you seen him? I can't find him anywhere." The man says standing up.

"Call his Empathy. He has one on him." Antonio says trying to get him to leave. Somehow, Lovino, wether he's actually there or not, somehow manages to ruin his time with Feliciano. It was starting to get annoying.

"Actually he doesn't. We all share one, I have it." Feliciano says, holding up one.

'Oh...' Antonio taught. He looked at the man, "look in our dorm. Room 221B."

"Okay! Nice meeting you Feliciano." The man says, before Antonio hears the man mumble as he walks away, "poor Lovino."

Ludwig, you know, The waiter stopped the man outside the restaurant and talked to him, and Antonio sighed before looking at Feliciano. "Enjoying lunch?" He asked.

"Si! I am!" Feliciano says, smiling.

"Hey Antonio, see your eating with the fish." He hears someone say, Antonio looks over to the person who talked and sees Mogens and Abel.

"What do you mean?" Antonio asks.

"I think you know." Mogens says, "where's your brothers, King of the Sea Forest?"

Feliciano's eyes narrowed and Antonio saw a change in him. "What do you mean? King? I'm no King."

"I think you are. That's why the crown," Adel says, pointing to the curl.

"Get out of here." Antonio says, slightly standing up.

"Fine. Come on Abel." Mogens says, as a waiter passes by him. He sticks out his foot, and the water pitcher the water carried fell off the tray and onto Feliciano, and Antonio, drenching them.

Antonio grabbed Feliciano's hand and ran out of the restaurant, he moved to carrying the boy bridal style and running down to the ocean. Halfway there, Feliciano reverted back.

He sets down Feliciano down on the shore line, and he sighs. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Not getting here fast enough." Antonio says, sighing.

"It's okay, you reacted good enough." Feliciano says, smiling softly.

"What do you think your doing running ou-" they hear a third voice say, they look to see Ludwig the Waiter staring at them, shocked. "M-ma-me-mer..." He stutters, freaking out. "Merman!" He screams, turning and running.

"Wait!" Feliciano says, stretching out his hand. Grass suddenly appears out of the sand and wraps around his ankles, pulling him to the ground.

Antonio and Feliciano look at each other, Antonio then knew that Ludwig was for Feliciano because he saw Feliciano's tail.

"I'm gonna go find Lovino, okay?" Antonio says, smiling. Feliciano nods slowly, before saying,

"Toni, thank you."

"No problem." Antonio says. He felt disappointed, he was hoping he'd wind up with Feliciano. He doesn't know much about Luciano, but he knows a little about Lovino. He'd have a better chance with him, as of now. But he might wind up changing his mind.

"Wait, Toni. Here, take this," Feliciano says, and Antonio turns around to see Feliciano handing his a string made of wet seaweed.

He takes it and looks at Feliciano, confused. "Tie it around your waist. It'll help you breathe underwater. That is were Lovino is." He says, pointing to Lovino, whose head is poking out of the water.

"Oh..." Antonio looks at Lovino, who growls and looks away.

"Lovino, I expect him to be back here in one piece." Feliciano says, and Lovino crosses his eyes. "Promise?" Feliciano says, and Lovino crosses both his arms over his chest.

Antonio steps in the water and Lovino takes his hand. The two disappear under the water, and they swim together.

"Can you hear me?" Antonio hears in his head a male voice.

"Woah? Lovino?"

"No, fuckass. It's Oprah." He hears the voice say, and he smiles.

"You sound like Feliciano and Luciano combined." He thinks back. "How are you doing this?"

"You know how dolphins can communicate telepathically, we can do the same. Sound travels slower here and frequencies shift pitch. I can use vibrations to shift, then once the sound slows it comes out as coherent words." Lovino explains.

"Why did you get rid of your voice?" Antonio asks, and he feels Lovino release his hand.

"None of your business." He hears Lovino say, and he looks around, before he hears a chuckle.

"Oh, mon cousin, qui-est-ce mon ami? Il est humain, oui?"

Lovino shrugs and nods. A blonde with blue eyes appears before him, and he smirks, running his hands under Antonio's chin seductively.

"Francis." Lovino says, and the blond looks at him.

"Oui?"

"Back off, he's here on Feli's recommendation."

"Oh, so, he's yours, hmm?"

"Tch, as if. More like he's Feliciano's." Lovino says in French, so Antonio doesn't understand him.

"Wait what? I'm lost." Antonio says, and Lovino crosses his eyes.

"Come on. Idiot." Lovino says taking his hand again, and leading him through the sea.

Antonio looks around, and is in awe of the sights. He looks up at Lovino and sees no sign of annoyance or anger. He was calm, which Antonio found weird, but he didn't want to ruin the calm look. He looks around and watches as the scenery go from tranquil to dark and ominous. Ships passed by and he saw many flags, reigning from Spanish ships to Japanese war ships.

Then something caught his eye, a gleaming object in the middle of all the gloom. He stopped, pulling from Lovino's grasp. Then he saw something even more strange, a merman staring straight back at him. He had wavy, almost curly brown hair, and brown eyes to match. His tail was red at the top and gold at the bottom. He smiles and waves at Antonio, who slightly waves back.

"Who are you waving at, idiot?" He heard Lovino say.

"Him. He's waving at us," Antonio says, pointing to the merman.

"No ones there, idiot. Or at least, not any more. Come on." He says, taking Antonio's hand again, and leading him towards the castle.


	11. Swimming With Lovino

Antonio watched as Lovino's eyes grew into vacant pools of green and brown. He wasn't scowling anymore, or calling him a verity of colourful words. In fact, he just stopped talking all together. It struck him as odd, seeing as how no matter what Antonio said, he didn't reply.

"King Lovino?" He tried, and the boy glanced at him. "What's up?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to sneak you in with you become fire coral food." He says, sounding annoyed, but it seemed forced, like he was trying to make Antonio believe he was annoyed.

"No, I'm asking if there's something wrong. You seem to be upset." Antonio says, and Lovino clicks his tongue.

"No shit Sherlock. It's annoying to know that I have a fucking festival to go to tomorrow and I have to drag a human to it." Lovino says and Antonio furrows his brows.

He wrenches his hand from Lovino's grasp and he almost falls to the ocean floor, but Lovino catches his arm. "Idiot. The current here will drag you to the floor and drown you. No human or mermaid alive can survive if they get to the sea floor, that's were its the strongest." Lovino says, pulling him back up. Antonio took note on how strong his tail is, seeing as Lovino pulled Antonio out from the undercurrent.

He took Antonio's hand again but instead of dragging him behind, he swam next to him.

"What's the festival for?" Antonio asks.

"It's generally the day we just stop working and have fun. There's this huge banquet then the citizens dance and sing. Normally I'd sit out, but it's required for me to join in every few years. That's when I have to wear my celestial "accessories" as I call it. I don't enjoy wearing them, they're annoying and stupid looking."

"Like what you're wearing now?" Antonio asks, tapping the arm cuff on Lovino's left arm.

"Hmm, oh, no. I have to wear three, two smaller cuffs on my right, a larger one on my left, and a necklace, with a belt and a tail cuff." Lovino says, flicking his tail in a more exaggerated way.

"Hmm, sounds fancy." Antonio says, smiling.

"Sounds more like a pain in the ass, to me. Hell, that's exactly what it is." Lovino says.

Antonio laughs and slightly nudges Lovino. Antonio couldn't help but feel a bit more comfortable with Lovino, seeing as he's not acting as prickly, but he did get a bit more foul mouthed under the water. "I have a question. Why don't you talk to Feli or Luci like now?"

Lovino glanced at him, and said. "It's not important. Besides, how I act with my brothers is none-"

"Of my business, I know. Still, I know Feliciano misses hearing you talk." Antonio says, and he sees Lovino's composer break again for a second, before it hardened once more. "Anyway, it is my business, soon I'll be a member of this family, and I think I should know a little bit about whose in it. I know a lot about Feliciano, Luciano doesn't talk to me, and you... You just shut me out." Antonio says.

He got no response from Lovino, so he decided to change the subject. "Anyway, after I kiss you... Er... One of you, I mean, what happens to me?"

Lovino's face slightly heated up, but not so much for Antonio to notice, and he says, "depends, you either can transform into a merman on command or your transformation is tied to ours. None of us ever had a relationship before, so we don't really know. We just know that you'll gain powers similar to the one you kisses and be able to change into a merman. That's about it." Lovino says.

"So, what are we going to do about me? You can't bring me into the kingdom right?"

"No, because my people will kill you. I could turn you into a merman for a while, but it'd only last for ten hours." Lovino says.

"Will it hurt?" Antonio asks.

"For a bit, yes. It would feel uncomfortable but it's better than death." Lovino says, and Antonio nods.

"True. Alright, let's do this." Antonio says, closing his eyes. He felt the slight pinch, before it turned into a feeling similar to ripped open. He squeezed his eyes shut, and then, his mind went blank.


	12. Off To The Castle!

"Antonio! Antonio, wake up!" He thought, shaking the passed out boy. He changed Antonio into a merman, and his energy is running low, he'll have to revert over to mouthing what he was to say, using his telepathy will cause him to faint in fatigue and that wouldn't end well on his part.

The boy slowly woke up, and since he wasn't used to the weight of the tail, he clung to Lovino. "I-I thought you said it'd only hurt a little." Antonio says, looking up at him.

'Sorry.' Lovino mouthed, growing exhausted.

"You okay? I don't hear you anymore." Antonio asks, growing worried.

"Using that kind of power... Tires me out." Lovino says, that way Antonio knew.

"Oh, okay. Don't waste any more energy, alright?" Antonio asks, and Lovino wearily smiles.

'A commoner ordering a King. That's not too smart.' He mouths, and Antonio smiles.

"Well, this King just so happens to be helping me out, so I can give him orders if needed." Antonio says, starting to move his tail a bit.

'Got the hang of it?' Lovino mouths, and Antonio nods.

"I think so." He lets go of Lovino's arms and drops a bit before he comes back up to Lovino's level. "I like to colour. It's the colour of a tomato." Antonio says.

'I like tomatoes. Come on.' Lovino says, beginning to swim without holding on to Antonio.

"Hey, why am I still wearing a shirt? You aren't." He asks, swimming next to Lovino.

'Because I only changed your legs, not your torso.' Lovino mouths.

"Woah..." Antonio says, looking around. He saw thousand of mermaids and mermen swimming in and out of coral shaped building, all having orange tails. "Your people aren't the ones attacking the shores, aren't they?"

Lovino shakes his head, and he sees as they pass by everyone, they all bow in respect. "They all really like you, don't they?" Antonio asks, noting on how all the girls where swooning at the sight of him.

'None of them are my type.' Lovino mouths and Antonio looks at the girls.

"What are your types then?" Antonio asks.

'Brunettes.' He mouths.

Antonio looks around, and sees about ten brunettes surrounding them.

"But..." Then I clicked. There was no male brunettes around besides him. "Y-You... You're gay?" He asks.

He got no response, and he took it as a yes. "LOOOVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIINNNNNOOOOOO~!" He hears a girly voice scream and he sees the King almost beam.

He signs something and Antonio looks up to see a girl with long light brown hair and a red and white tail swim up to them. "Oooh, is this the human you talked about before you left? He's cute. Hi, my name is Elizabeta, but I prefer Lizzy. I'm the kings personal therapist."

Antonio looks at Lovino, who huffed and looked away. "Why does he need a therapist?"

She smiled and wiggled her finger, "can't tell ya, but I'll be honest, all the kings have one, but wether or not they use them is up to them. Lovino just so happens to use my knowledge."

Antonio glances at Lovino, who seemed fine until he winced, clutching his stomach and then, started to drop. "Lovi!" Antonio says, grabbing Lovino's arm, and pulling him back up. He was out cold.

"Oh, so you haven't picked Lovino yet. I figured you did. He used magic for your tail, no?" Lizzy asks, and he nods.

"Si, he came here be-"

"Cause of the festival, I know. Come, let's take him to the castle. Oh and, I dare you to call him Lovi all day tomorrow." She says, leading him towards the castle, with Lovino in his arms.

"Why?" Antonio asks.

"Because Lovino dislikes nicknames, but it'd do him some good if someone called him that. His brothers claim to, but they never really do. They both call him Fratello, which is big brother in Italian. So, as his therapist, I'm asking you to help." Lizzy says.

"Why does he go to you?" Antonio asks.

"Why would anyone go to a therapist? They help people, and it's my job to make sure this King lasts longer than the last. Besides, I'd much rather see you in session, Antonio. Just by looking at you, I can see you hold a deep care for Feliciano, but not for Luciano. You're confused about Lovino, you do not understand why he's so mean to you, and yet is so highly spoke of."

"Y-Yeah... H-how did you know?" Antonio asks.

"I am one of the few citizens here in the Kingdom that has powers. I can read emotions and feelings as soon as the person feels them." Lizzy says and he nods.

"Why is Lovino so emotionally distant?" Antonio asks.

"It's not that he's distant, he just deals with his fears in a different manner. He's so worried about people leaving him, he acts like he doesn't need anyone, but.. He's only a person. That's why I want you to act friendly towards Lovino. No matter what he says or does, please. It'll severely help him." Lizzy says.

"Oh... Um... Okay." Antonio says, hesitant.

"Promise." Lizzy says.

Antonio sighs, "I promise."


	13. Finally Awake

Lovino groans, and Antonio looks at him and smiles, he's trying his hardest to keep his promise to Lizzy, he gets up and looks at Lovino, who slowly pulls his eyes open and Antonio says, "morning Lovi!"

Lovino made a soundless gasp and punched Antonio in the nose. "Ow! What was that for, Lovi!?" Antonio cries, clamping his hand over his nose.

'For scaring me, and don't call me Lovi!' He mouths, before he looks around. 'Why are you in my room?'

"Oh, Lizzy said I should wait for you to wake up show you can show me around!" Antonio says, smiling.

Lovino scans him over, 'what's got you so happy?' He asked.

"Oh, Lizzy brought over some Tomatoes! I didn't know you did trade with Spain!" Antonio says, lying about the reason, but not about the tomatoes.

Lovino sat up, 'well duh, of course I do. Spain has the best tomatoes in history.' He mouths, looking around for the tomatoes.

Antonio pulls them out and hands him on, expecting the boy to ask for it to be cut up. But, much to Antonio's surprise, he just took a bite out of it directly.

"You eat them while too?" Antonio asks.

Lovino nods, taking another bite.

"Can you show me around?" Antonio asks, smiling.

Lovino shrugs and gets up, he motions his head towards the door and swims out, Antonio follows.

They swam in silence, but whenever they passed any people, the citizens would all bow and Lovino would dip his head at them in thanks.

A few girls would wave at him, and he would wave back. Many of the teenage aged girls would swoon at his presence, and Antonio would chuckle at their reactions. He swims closer to Lovino, and asked, "how old are you?"

"Twenty three. I'll be twenty four in a few months." He hears Lovino say, telepathically.

"I just turned twenty two a few weeks ago." Antonio says.

"Hmmm, so we're older than you." Lovino says, and Antonio rolls his eyes, before smiling.

"Yeah. Old farts you guys are." Antonio says, and Lovino rolls his eyes.

'Do you like turtles?' Lovino mouths, and Antonio nods wildly.

"Si!"

Lovino points down at the ocean floor and Antonio looks down, he sees about ten turtles swimming in the current, and he smiles wider. "That's so cool! Living down here... It... It might be worth it." Antonio says, looking up at Lovino.

He crosses his eyes and mouths, 'idiot' but Antonio didn't let it get to him. He was just too happy at the moment to worry about it.

Time passes and Lovino looks around, before looking back at Antonio, "how long was I out?" He telepathically asks.

"A day, Lizzy had to use something to make the merman tail thing last longer." Antonio says, and Lovino sighs.

"Great, the festival. Sea fan-fucking-tastic." Lovino says, and Antonio smiles.

"Are you going to get ready?"

"Si. I'll have Lizzy gone you the rest of the tour." Lovino then turns around, and Antonio follows.

* * *

((Hey guys, I'm so sorry but I'm going to cut this short. I'll write out who he picks and the festival, but I'm pretty sure y'all know who he picks, no? ;-) I'm so sorry for cutting it short, but I've lost a lot of interest in it, and I'm just fresh out of ideas for this story. Besides, a lot of mistakes where made and I plan on doing better on any other Spamano/GerIta stories in the future. Love! -Ari.))


	14. The End ((Sorry))

Antonio enjoyed the festival, it was fun and exciting. He thought Lovino looked lovely in his festive accessories. He sat on a sea sponge chair and watched as Lovino enjoyed a dance with Lizzy. She said he was going to dance with her if she had to drag him by his tail, flailing and hissing. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but Antonio was kinda lonely.

He felt someone grab his hand, and he looks up. His eyes lock on a set of hazel eyes and he knew it was Lovino. He was pulled from his seat, and the two swam away.

"Leaving the festival so early?" Antonio asks.

Lovino nods, and he glances at Antonio.

"Umm... Lovino. I think I decided." Antonio says, and Lovino looks at him, as they slow to a stop.

"Who?" He asks Antonio.

"Don't hit me for this but... I decided to... To pick you." Antonio says, smiling.

Lovino's face heated up and he looks to the ground. "Oh... Well... Okay."

Antonio smiles, and he hugs Lovino.


	15. Authors Note! PLEASE READ!

heyo! I'm going to be rewriting this because of this mistakes I made and I _will_ be finishing it. It'll be updated by the beginning of not next week, March 14th - March 19, but March 22nd - March 27th. Swear it on River Styx!

Ari.


End file.
